Buffalo Ribs

Rib date: September 17, 2011

Guests: Many. Stults family, McDonald family + a couple young cousins, Big Paul and his new bride Corine, Ryan & Laura, Eric & Dave. I think that about covers it.

No silly. These are not the ribs from a buffalo. Rather, they are tender pork ribs slathered in that spicy sauce they serve on chicken wings in high quality establishments like Hooters. I know- saying you enjoy the wings at Hooters is a little like saying you read Playboy for the articles. Hooters does have some pretty damn good wings however! The sauce originated in Buffalo, NY. It's what Buffalo was known for before losing every Super Bowl in the 90s.

I have to give credit where credit is due on the Buffalo Ribs. I got the smoker queued up before heading out for a busy day of wine tasting then to an Oktoberfest event. I came back home later in the afternoon and- voila!- deliciously tender, smokey, zingy ribs. My wife Gillian excelled on her inaugural Smokey Joe test drive. I just swooped (OK, staggered) in at the finish line for a half hour of Buffalo sauce basting.

If you dig that chicken wing type sauce, these ribs are for you. I gotta admit, while they were pretty good and done right, they were not my favorites. For one reason, being a wine geek, buffalo sauce is impossible to pair wine with. I continued, unnecessarily some may argue, with the Oktoberfest theme and enjoyed
Some Silverado Brewing Company Blonde Ale. The sauce is basically an entire bottle of Louisiana hot sauce and a stick of butter. Check the recipe in the Ribs Ribs Ribs book, because there is probably more to it.

The book also provides a recipe for gorgonzola cheese dip to accompany celery stalks. Not bad.

All in all, pretty good, but I am looking forward to the next recipe in the series- Maple Ribs.

Comments from the crowd: mainly positive and focused on the sauce and kick it provided. JR said they went well with his 12 pack of Coors Light, an impressive accomplishment given he was with me at Oktoberfest...

Kids' take: my son chickened out entirely when he saw an entire bottle of hot sauce go into it. My daughter said they were a bit spicy, but still pretty good.

Side notes: Ryan almost got punched after comparing Paul to one too many famous fat guys. That would have been funny. Eric relayed that he was afraid to bring his new girlfriend around, so instead he brought an old boyfriend. Just kidding! These are jokes people. Hello, is this thing on? Having no evidence to the contrary, I think Eric may have ordered his new girlfriend off RealDoll.com, making her anything but real. Badumbump. It was nice to catch up with Dave. Sorry- no photos this time. Did I mention Oktoberfest?

Rendezvous Ribs

Rib Date: Sept. 4, 2011
Guests: Stults family, J Butler, Michael & Jennifer, Eric, JR and kids, Paul

Michael said these ribs were proof of God's existance, or some such nonsense.  He'd had a bit of wine, but more on that later.

The Rendezvous Ribs were outstanding.  They were all dry rub; no sauce.  The rub is a mixture of spices, but especially paprika, which imparts the red tone you can see in the photo.  They were fall-off-the-bone tender after nearly six hours in the smoker.  The wood smoke from the apple wood paired well with the spice from the paprika.  It especially paired well with the killer wines we enjoyed with the Rendezvous Ribs, especially the 2006 Chase Cellars St. Helena Zinfandel.  Our homemade Dump Bucket Napa Valley Syrah was fun too. 

All in all, another fun evening of laughter with friends, family, fantastic food and excellent wines!

Sidenotes: This new blog was a hit with the folks at the fiesta.  It's nice to know that at least a few folks read it, albeit in person on my IPad.  Michael Haley, a.k.a. Napa Blogger, suggested doing something more to foster readership- such as linking up with Napa Patch.

Additional sidenote: My intent with sidenotes is to share some funny side story from the evening. I recall hours of hearty laughter, but the specifics are Vague. Rest assured, it had nothing to do with the 8-10 (who's counting?) bottles of great local wine. And, while JR did sample some of the zins with his Rendezvous Ribs, he insisted they paired well with his 12 pack of Coors Light.

First-Timer's Ribs

Rib Date: Sunday August 28, 2011
Guests: Stults family, JR, Tasha, Delaney and Aiden McDonald, and Eric.

I've actually done "First-Timer's Ribs" many times, successfully on the standard Weber kettle grill.  They are pretty simple and hard to screw up.  But the Smokey Mountain took them to a new level.
It was my pioneer rib adventure on the new toy and the results verifed- slow and low is the way to go.

Using a rib rack to accommodate 3 racks, I put the ribs on at 1:30 and they were done a little after 5pm.  I slopped on the BBQ sauce at the end and put them directly on the grill for another 15 minutes.

They were pretty damn good if I do say so myself.  Tender and juicy, with a clear, pink smoke ring. (That sounds dirty). The ribs did not take as long as I had anticipated.

They nicely accompanied a variety of wines: "Josephine's Blush" (a Napa Valley rose' we made at work), a Malbec-based red blend from Norton in Mendoza which Eric brought aloong and last but not least, some of our homemade swill: Dump Bucket 2009 Napa Valley Syrah.  JR said they tasted good with his 12 pack of Coors Light.

Other highlights: Eric detailing his experiences with his new gal pal.  We may not see him for a while, but he'll be back.  He always is.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em

Testes, one, two...hello is this thing on?

I hereby am officially doing something I said I'd never do: blog.  Most bloggers are annoying.  And, speaking of annoying, it's taken me an hour to get this set up.  Actually, it's taken my wife an hour, as I was ready to throw in the towel a half hour ago.  Lots of hassle for something four people will see...

The idea for this was spawned last spring, when I decided to spend a good portion of the late spring and summer months working my way through Steven Raichlen's rib bible, appropriately titled "Ribs, Ribs, Ribs" tackling the recipes featured therein in succession.  And so it began.

The place: my backyard in Napa, CA.
The original equipment: a good old fashioned Weber kettle grill.  Old school.

We worked our way over the sunny spring and summer months through the first handful of rib recipes, making it all the way to the "Chino Latino Barbecued Ribs with Guava BBQ Sauce."  By and large, the results were consistantly good, according to my family and friends and own pallat.  The variable was usually the ability (or lack of) to control heat properly on the Weber. 

But that all changed in late July, when my family got me a new Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker (a.k.a. "The Bullet") for my birthday.  It was time to start the adventure anew!  And so we did.

Here lies the adventures of a man in his backyard, with family, friends, lots of great Napa Valley wine, and ribs.